Power Training

For information on how to qualify for FREE use of a our Powertap SL Wireless System, refer to the bottom of the section "Why buy a bike from us?", where our various programs are listed.

In this section I will experiment with training with Power. I will undergo various programs I have read about and reveal the results, as well as my opinion as to how the program worked.

October 15, 2009
I have been using a wireless Powertap SL and I must say I am quite impressed with how easy it is to set up and how much information it gives - not only power but speed, cadence (virtual), heart rate, distance and time of course. There is a weight penalty but it is just at the hub. The hub is set up on a set of HED Bastogne wheels so the front wheel is quite light and has bladed spokes, the Bastogne wheelset with the standard HED hub in the rear is amoung the lightest clincher set-ups arouns and certainly the most reasonably priced - lighter than Mavics venerable Kysrium SL but only 2/3 the price. It is very motivating training on the road with power, however, I must admit the consistent output of the FLOW trainer mentioned below, combined with its low cost is definately my favorite. I will next try to set up the IAERO.

Update 3: March 26, 2009, life happened and training on the Flow stoped after ski vacation first weekend in Feb, when we got back said I would get back on after March break but did not happen as I started cycing outside, Oh well, I will try to follow up later.

Update 2: Thursday & Friday, Jan 29 & 30, 2009
Thursday, Jan 29
Average power 379 Watts
Av Heart rate 165 bpm
FTP 360 Watts
Weight 185 lbs
Friday, Jan 30
Average power 390 Watts
Av heart rate 162 bpm
FTP 371 Watts
Weight 185 lbs
Why do 2 tests? Recently I fitted a customer to a new bike, performing the power test with his old position and then re-doing it 2 days later with his position dialed in on his new bike he surprised me by generating 30 Watts more power, the changes totalled a mere 2.5cm when added up. I decided I would do the power test on the beater bike I use in the trainer, then use my custom Guru. I was able to generate 11 more Watts of power with my custom bike. This is surprising as I suspected there would be no significant difference because my bike that I use in the trainer is set up so that it is as close to my custom position as possible. But when you think of it - the fastest cycling times have always been done on a custom bike, Indurain's bikes for his tours and Olympic and World titles were custom. Lance Armstrong's 1999 tour time trial victories were on a custom Litespeed (with trek paint) and all his OCLV time trial bikes were a custom mold made to his geometry. Initially the OCLV TT was only available in one size - over the years they expanded it to a few more sizes, however, the frame angles had to conform to Cying rules so many triathletes find they cannot get forward enough on it. The only time Jan beat Armstrong in a time trial was on a custom Bianchi made especially for him, no wonder when he went back to T-mobile the following year he could not match Lance, T-mobile's supplier at that time had their own rig that Jan was obligated to use. The bright spot is that in this day of mass production only someone of Lance's stature would be worthy of a company investing 3/4 of a million to develop a custom carbon bike for one specific rider - therefore current riders are effectively on an even playing field. It is also the reason that I feel, even being out of competition for so long, that Lance may have an unfair advantage in that the Trek TTX is made in the USA and is based on his custom geometry.
By the way, I have been using the time trial regiment by Chris Carmical from his column in Bicycling for the last 4 weeks, I recommend this program to anyone looking for an effective program but wants to spend minimal time on the trainer.

Update 1: Monday, Dec 8, 2008
Average Power 373 Watts (increase of 7.8%)
Average Heart Rate 160 bpm (decrease of 3 bpm)
FTP 354 Watts
Weight 187 lbs (84 kg)- the same - groan
To maintain consistency I weighed myself at the same time of day (morning - before breakfast) and performed the test at the same time (evening - after kids in bed).
I was surprised that I had a near 8% increase in average power after only a month using the FTP values as my workout parameters. The fact that my average heart rate decreased signifies that I was able to perform at a higher level with less strain on my cardiovascular system. There is a regime that I would like to try so the next update will not be until the end of January.

Monday, Nov 10, 2008, performed the Functional Threshold Power Test. The test takes 85 minutes, a lot of it is warm-up before a 20 minute time trial. The test results in a Functional Threshold Power (FTP) figure. This figure is subsequently used to calculate training ranges, from Level 1 (Active Recovery AR) to Level 5 (Anaerobic Capacity AC) for both power and heart rate. My results were as follow
Average Power 346 watts
Average Heart Rate 163 bpm
FTP 329 watts
Weight 187 lbs (84 kg)
I will use the training ranges from the FTP Test to do 3 x 45 minute workouts per week. According to the literature, this is the minimum for training improvement (2 x per week is simply maintaining what you have).
My goal is to be 5% faster for 2009, meaning that a 40 km bike that would have taken 60 minutes in 2008, I will target to take 3 minutes off. According to various sources, training with power is the most efficient method, one coach put it this way "it is like studying for the SAT's with the actual exam you will be using in front of you". I will update in 1 month with a new FTP test.